A Hunter's Story
by Fenira
Summary: Based in the timeperiod after Warcraft, World of Warcraft. This story follows the footsteps of a solo troll hunter in the great world of Azeroth. NOTE: NOT based on any actual players in game.
1. Chapter 1:Ambushed

Trees and rocks passed by in a flash. It felt like she and Fang had been riding like this for hours, and most likely had. Fenir had been hunting the black worgs in Duskwood that day, course you could never really tell when it was day or night when you got close to Medivh's castle. The forest of Duskwood had been corrupted by the leaking taint of Medivh's castle. It had once been green and alive like any other forest, now it was dark, the trees blackened and dying, and undead horrors ran free. Plainly…it was a maze of corruption and death. Fang, her giant frostwolf, flopped down on the ground and watched as Fenir began the process of skinning the newly killed worg. While engrossed in her work, three humans had snuck up behind and ambushed them.

Fang's fur was covered in sweat and his chest was heaving with exhaustion. He couldn't take much more of this, but what were they to do? It was common sense what would happen is they stopped. Being a troll, any human would kill her on sight. Most of them saw any member of the horde as beasts…rampaging beasts with no sense of right or wrong. Course, THEY would know about that more than anyone else. Fenir gave out a weak chuckle as she looked back at her pursuers.

"Fine example'a beasts right behind meh…" Fenir murmured to herself

Fang swerved to the left as an arrow whizzed by and thunked into a tree. As Fang continued running and leaping left and right, arrows continued to whiz by with a shouted curse right behind it as each missed. Behind her, at least one of her pursuers was an archer like her. Another of them must be a priest…yes, that would explain their mounts unnatural stamina. However, the last one was a mystery, ther-. Her thoughts were broken as another arrow just barely missed her head.

"We hav'ta do sometin…les see, ders 3 of them an 1 of…" Fenir tightened her grip on the reins until it hurt. There would be no room for error here.

Joshua pulled an arrow from his quiver and knocked it. So far the troll had been able to evade his efforts, but that was soon to change. He was considered a pretty good archer; even so, he wasn't accustomed to riding and shooting at the same time. Her wolf should be tiring about now. With a sluggish mount like that then, she won't be able to dodge his arrows any longer.

"Joshua! Look out!" Chance suddenly yelled, breaking his trance.

Joshua's vision was suddenly covered in white fur, claws, and teeth. Sound and vision of each second blurred together. Each moment that passed brought only misery. Minutes passed by as he slowly regained his thoughts. His mouth had a metal taste and felt hot. Opening his eyes, he realized that he was on his side on the ground.

"Mmmmm…w-what happened?" Joshua shifted his weight and felt a sharp pain go up his left leg that forced him to clench his teeth and fists together to hold back the scream. Looking down, what he saw made him sick to his stomach. His leg had gotten trapped under his horse…which was now dead. Its face was frozen in mid scream, eyes wide, blood shot and teeth bared. The entire length of the neck had been completely ripped apart. The throat crushed and blood still oozing out the open mouth, soaking into the earth. He felt a sick taste rising up in the back of his throat. Turning over as best he could, he lurched as he felt hot bitter bile being rejected.

A hand set itself on his shoulder, and he felt a warm pulse go through his body as the hand traced down his body and stopped to rest itself on his leg. "Try not to move, I think it's broken. I can numb the pain for now, but we need to get you to a doctor."

"Katherine…what happened? Where's Chance?" Joshua managed to whisper as the pain in his leg slowly receded.

"I don't know." Katherine paused and went quiet, then slowly lifted her head and spoke. "I'm not sure what exactly happened myself…but let's get your leg out before anything else."

As Katherine moved to remove Joshua's leg from under the poor beast, a low growl sounded. Looking up slowly she saw that they were not alone. Above them on a small outcropping rock was the troll's huge frostwolf mount. Its white fur was stained red with blood and raw horse flesh hanged from its mouth. Katherine sat still, not daring to move lest she some how provoke the beast.

Joshua started to open his mouth to ask what was wrong when he saw the giant wolf out of the corner of his eye. The thing bared it's teeth and let go another deep growl as he began to attempt to remove his leg again. It was apparent this thing had no intention of letting them go. With Chance no where to be seen and him trapped, there wasn't much that could be done.

"Joshua…I'm going to try and get it's attention, I need you to use yer bow and take it down…" whispered Katherine, trying not let the wolf hear them incase it some how comprehended what was said.

"What are you talking about? My stuff is over is over there" pointing to a near by tree. "And if you haven't noticed, I can't really move…" He quickly whispered back.

"Don't worry bout that, let me take care it…" Katherine snapped back.

Now Joshua was quite puzzled by this. Katherine being a priestess was not accustomed to combat so there wasn't much she could do. His thoughts were suddenly broken as Katherine got up abruptly and dove towards the bow. Seeing this, the frostwolf gave a swift snarl and dived for her. Katherine grabbed the bow and quiver and threw it towards Joshua just as the frostwolf's front paws slammed into her chest. Joshua quickly reached for the items but as he stretched for them, but felt the jolting pain in this leg once again.

"Joshua! Shoot it, shoot it now!" Katherine screamed as she tried her best to hold the beast's gapping jaws away from her throat.

Reaching for his bow once again, he felt the jolting pain once again and jerked back. Glancing over at Katherine, he saw that her strength was waning and the creature was gaining ground towards her throat. Clenching his teeth together, he quickly reached for it once again. This time, he felt his hand close around his bow and an arrow sticking out of the quiver. Quickly pulling back, he knocked the projectile, took aim, and let it go.


	2. Chapter 2:Heavymetal

Gasping for air, Fenir slumped against the tree trying to catch her breath. Somehow this human had not been fazed when she had sent Fang into their bunch, but instead tracked her movements and gone after her. Since then, she had many close encounters with his sword. She was an archer for voodoo's sake, not a warrior! The only time she ever even used her spear was as a last resort when she'd run out of arrows. Course, at the moment, there wasn't much else she could do. When she and Fang had been ambushed, they hadn't any time to retrieve her bow and arrows. If they had been able to, this would have been over very quickly. However, she still had a few tricks up her sleeve.

Fenir's ears perked up as she heard the faint sound of metal softly clinging together. Hah, the idiot warrior probably didn't even notice it. Sure heavy metal armor gives better protection, but it also slows your movements and tends not to so convenient when sneaking up on an opponent. Fenir smiled as she took hold of an overhanging branch and pulled herself up. Quietly, she slowly pulled her self higher until she found a good perch safely above the ground, and out of reach of the human warrior. Finally the human came into view. He had his sword up before him in a defensive stance and stalked forward slowly.

Fenir sighed and quietly whispered to herself, "Dis ain't gonna beh easy…gonna hav'ta find'a flaw in his dayfence…."

The thing is it wasn't the human himself she was afraid of; it was the huge sword he was holding. If she could somehow get it out of his reach, then she wouldn't have a problem. Then a thought struck her. Fenir reached into a small pouch that she held on her waist and took out several tiny different colored spheres, each about the size of a marble. Each color symbolized a different effect. The blue had the power of ice and the red had the power of fire. She had had a mage transfer these powers into them during one her ever so rare visits to the city. Usually she merely used them when hunting deviant prey. Not too much magic in them, but enough to do some damage. Smiling, she silently took hold of her spear, eying the human has he moved ever closer.

Chance stepped forward carefully, trying to make as little sound as possible. The troll had sent her freakish wolf into them, but he had not been fooled by her little ploy to escape. When she found that she was being followed, she ran like the coward she was instead of fighting back. Either way, he would make sure to send the horde a little message about how he felt about them. Chance grinned at the thought but suddenly gave a start when something fell from above and landed in front of him. Looking down, he saw that it was a small red thing, similar to a berry. Then again, this forest was for the most part dead; none of the trees here ever sprouted berries or the like. Looking at it broodingly, he took his sword and prodded the strange thing with the end of his it. Suddenly, the very air in front of him burst into flame.

Now was the moment when Fenir had been waiting for. Spear in hand, she abruptly leaped into the air, onto the ground, and charged for the stunned human. Leaping through the withering blazes, she thrust the spear forward. However, instead of making contact with his flesh, she made contact with his sword. Fenir was shocked. Somehow he had seen through her trap, again. Anyway, this was no time to worry about that. Right now she was face to face with a heavily armed human; literally, face to face. The human's mouth formed into a slight crooked smile. Suddenly, the human heaved his sword forward, knocking her back. Struggling to regain her balance, Fenir looked up only to see the deadly blade come swinging down toward her head. Quickly rolling to the side, she managed to evade it just as it came crashing down where she had stood. Gasping for air, Fenir staggered to her feet and held her spear out in front of her defensively. Immediately, she then met with a series of hard blows. Each threatening to cleave right through her if not for her spear. Her arms were now shaking with hurt from the force of the blows. The human showed no sign of fatigue and continued with striking at her repeatedly.

Chance swung his blade forward and almost laughed in the sight of the troll sweating and gasping for breath as she tried her best to parry it. This was too easy. The stupid troll thought that he'd be in shock at the sight of fire but she was sadly mistaken. What she hadn't counted on was that he had had plenty of experience with that type of magic and trick. After all, one of his good friends worked with the arcane magics. Chance continued to swing his blade at the troll and she in turn continued to hold it off, but only to be weakened further.

Fenir was now panting vigorously. Each strike from the sword sent jolts of pain up her arms. There was no way she could hold him off for long like this, she had to get that sword away from him! Suddenly a short high pitch bark echoed. Hearing this, the human paused. This was the chance she had been praying for. Fenir couched, and then lunged at her opponent, not daring to wait for him to refocus his attention. Slammed in the chest and breath knocked out, the human smashed into a near bye tree. Fenir quickly reached into the pouch on her waist, took out one of the small blue spheres, and threw it. Ice sprang out, enveloping both the sword and arm of the human. The pitiful thing flailed uselessly, but could do nothing for the ice had frozen his arm to the tree.

Chance was utterly shocked. He was helpless, helpless and at the mercy of this filthy troll. He strained and strained again, but was unable to free his arm. The ice had formed enveloped his sword, arm, and shoulder and the cold was now seeking through his armor. Chance's body slumped down, filled with despair. Reluctantly, he slowly lifted his gaze to the troll. Even in death there was honor, he would not look away from it. But once again he was shocked. The troll wasn't making any move to finish him off. In fact, she was walking away! Was this mercy? Had she had pity for him? No, those horde monstrosities were not capable of those feelings. She was going to turn back any moment now and strike the finally blow. With each step she took away from him, this thought ran through his mind. And yet…she did not.


	3. Chapter 3:Forgive and Forget

The human had been at her mercy but she had spared him. There was no honor in killing in something that could not defend itself. Besides, the bark she had heard before belonged to Fang. It had been one of pain. Tired and exhausted, she made her way as best she could. Her sides hurt and her head felt dizzy, but still she went on, using her spear as a walking stick. Finally she made it back to the site where she had left Fang. The sight left her stunned. Fang was on his side, panting heavily, with an arrow sticking out between his ribs. And there on the other side of him was one of the the humans, the human who had wounded Fang.

Joshua merely sat there on the ground beside Katherine's lifeless body. He had been too late to save her, he had hesitated, and now she was gone. Dead, dead because of him. The arrow had hit too late, and the wolf had torn her throat just as it had with his horse. Her eyes now stared into nothingness. All because of him, because he hesitated, it was his fault. Tears streamed down his face. Joshua sat there, oblivious to everything else around him.

Fenir's eyes shifted from Fang, to the human, and to the corpse. She hurt. She was tired and Fang needed tending if he was to survive. Using her spear as a brace, Fenir stepped forward and knelt down before Fang. Grasping the arrow, the wolf was too weak to give anything more than a whimper as the arrow was yanked from it's side. Eyes downcast, she helped Fang to his feet.

"I'm sorry..." She hadn't wanted this to happen, war was not a thing she was fond of. However, that did not mean that she would just sit idily by. The human stared at the white corpse and said nothing. Turning away, Fenir took hold of the reins, and walked beside Fang in silence.

Upon entering the small tower, she breathed a sigh of relief; they were home. Unlike most towers, this was of wood, and aged grey. It had been built in the very canyon of DeadWind Pass that the old sorcerer Medivth had claimed as his domain. In fact, her miniture tower was connected to the great castle by a small walkway, though the door was blocked by a gate, and for good reason. Deadwind pass was dead. There wasn't a living thing in it, except for the occational vulture that called it home. However, the long dead servents still occupied the area around the castle, bound forever more to the land by dark magic. For the most part though they simply ignored her, or it could be that they just tolerated her presence giving that she had not damaged the tower while living there so far. This was her home.

Fenir ushered Fang in, slightly smiling. "Come friend, lets see to our hurts together"


End file.
